The invisible war

Regarding the leaked video, I think Greenwald is right:

All of this is usually kept from us. Unlike those in the Muslim world, who are shown these realities quite frequently by their free press, we don't usually see what is done by us. We stay blissfully insulated from it, so that in those rare instances when we're graphically exposed to it, we can tell ourselves that it's all very unusual and rare. That's how we collectively dismissed the Abu Ghraib photos, and it's why the Obama administration took such extraordinary steps to suppress all the rest of the torture photos: because further disclosure would have revealed that behavior to be standard and common, not at all unusual or extraordinary.

Not to be glib, but war is hell. American civilians just don't see it very often. We can't wrap our heads around the idea that "our boys" are anything other than heroic nation-builders. We send them to dangerous places where they can expect to kill or be killed and then we are shocked at how calmly they go about their jobs eliminating perceived threats. We're even more shocked when they return home with post-traumatic stress and struggle to adjust to civilian life.